COUNTRY CHILDREN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 163, 30 September 1927, Page 9

COUNTRY CHILDREN

CONVEYANCE TO SCHOOL AN INCREASING PROBLEM (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The cost of conveying children to school in country districts is assuming such a big item that the Minister of Education, the Hon. R. A. Wright. caia give no encouragement to those members of the House of Representatives who ask that the department and the education boards share the cost so that the children can get free: transport to and from school. This subject was mentioned in the House by Mr. J. Horn, member for Wakatipu, whose district embraces a great number of these cases. It was impossible for the working man to get within financial reach of the city technical colleges, he said, and in this direction, also, he desired the assistance of the department. Many people were very reluctant to put their boys and girls—particularly girls—into lodgings. The Railway Depai*tment was doing a. great deal in assisting the conveyance of children, bat in some districts the railway facilities were not great and other methods had to be employed or the children had to board permanently in the locality of the colleges themselves. The Minister of Education said the question was being investigated, but he did not expect to be able to give a satisfactory reply. The subject had cropped up in many districts and was now becoming a heavy, but necessary item. Endeavours would be made by the department to see if the position could be relieved.